Childish Revenge
by RoyboyX
Summary: Cassandra's day just could not have gotten any worse.


She parks her spaceship in her reserved parking space as she prepares for another new day at the office. The woman, as always, ignores the front desk lady's subtle attempt to greet her. As she steps onto the elevator and it ascends to the top floor, Cassandra De Vries cautiously checks her appearance in a small compact mirror. She adjusts her bracelets carefully and lightly pats her side-swept pale blond hair, which she draws up into a tight bun nearly all the time. She assesses that her makeup is not in any way smudged, that her favorite blue blazer and skirt are finely pressed without a wrinkle in sight, and that her gold-tipped blue pumps are mud splotch-free. She closes her mirror and pockets it as she begins to think about her only two regrets in life.

Cassandra often wonders why she even bothers at all to dress herself up. While she does have some fine physical attributes, she is highly aware that her methods of execution and attitude are what prevent people from considering her to be attractive. In her opinion, this is not her fault. As a young teenager, her father would often try to molest her, and her mother succeeded in convincing her that the world was full of selfish people who wanted to control every aspect of life.

A flash through a window that Cassandra sees on her way up signals the impending threat of a lightning storm outside, which Cassandra knows will only result in more mud to threaten the quality of her footwear the next morning.

The fact that she believes she should resemble anything close to a model though the days of Armani Exchange are over baffles Cassandra, especially since she knows all too well that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that it takes a backseat to money, control and power in this harsh world of business, where not even Barack Obama can stop the complete corporate takeover of the United States. Another interesting point that she notes is that she promised _him_ that they would change the world together.

Though she tried to put _him_ out of her life, she still thought of the man she used to love, but then betrayed to take over the company that was most likely to take over the world. While she told herself to forget about him, he haunted her memory, and she could sometimes see his reflection through windows. If she was alone, she would allow herself to smile a little and press her fingers to his through the glass as she whispered his name, "Daniel…"

Once, he'd smiled back, then ripped a gun out from his trenchcoat as he shot her through the heart. That had been a dream, but it only heightened her "sightings" of him.

When Cassandra reaches her floor, she is again greeted, this time by a soldier of hers named Fogler, whom she actually likes and treats with respect. She responds to his, "Good morning, Miss De Vries," with a warm smile.

As she pushes open her office door, her secretary, who she can't help but find annoying to no end, rushes up to her and makes a claim that she witnessed an unknown aircraft flying above the office window.

"Calm yourself, Cecelia. You must have had too much coffee to drink. Please sit down and relax, now."

She does not, however, and a few minutes later they hear a commotion outside, with the sounds of guns being fired and what are unmistakably the three men stationed outside her office, screaming their last. She can't help but wonder if Fogler was among the dead.

"What could it be?" cries Cecelia.

A second later, the doors burst open, and in marches a young woman. Cassandra becomes jealous immediately of her, as she believes the intruder's short brown hair and blue eyes garner the girl more praise than the dataDyne CEO ever could. The woman is clad in a blue and black bodysuit with armored limbs, which Cassandra knows means that the girl is an agent of the Carrington Institute. Cassandra cannot help but wonder if her nightmare had a grain of truth to it, if this girl is here to kill her. The girl points her CMP150 rifle, stolen from a soldier outside at both Cassandra and Cecelia, the former of whom remains calm.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Cassandra asks in a firm, demanding voice.

"Look out! She's got a gun!" Cecelia screams.

Both women raise their hands and slowly back away. The intruding woman notes from Cecelia's frightened voice how annoying she must be to Cassandra, and so she suppresses a small laugh. Cassandra retains her composure, putting her arms down with the knowledge that this woman may kill her for doing so. She proceeds.

"You won't shoot me, foolish child. Don't you know who I am?" she asks.

The intruding girl knows exactly who the woman before her is, and she also knows that she is right in saying she will not kill her. Yet, she can't help but hover her finger over the trigger. She knows that by killing Cassandra De Vries, CEO of dataDyne, and by destroying the building, that she can finally exact revenge on the company for her beloved fater. She is perfectly capable.

She also knows that by doing so, she would guarantee her exit from the agency, maybe even her termination. Because she has morals, she lowers her gun to her side, and allows herself to compromise by thinking that maybe Carrington may allow her to assassinate the dataDyne head in a future mission. Or, maybe her adversary has a gun that would give her a reason to shoot her. The girl's murder fantasies are interrupted when the CEO proceeds.

"Let's see how you deal with security." Cassandra says, starting to walk behind her desk. She is actually planning to pull out her personal handgun to use on the girl herself. While she is not heralded for her good looks, she is heralded for her dangerous accuracy, and she could easily plant a bullet between the eyes of this girl.

Before Cassandra can alert her forces, the girl has brought her rifle up again and smashed the computer, and she has her gun pressed against the CEO's forehead.

"Give me your necklace." She demands in an English accent that she has spent years perfecting.

"Will you kill me if I say no?" asks Cassandra.

"No." the intruder responds. Casually tossing her gun aside she quickly deals an uppercut punch to Cassandra before she can flee, and then kneels down to rip her necklace from around her neck. She pockets the necklace and holds her own wrist up to her mouth.

"Necklace Key obtained, sir. Objective 2 complete." she whispers.

The intruder then makes note of the other woman. She responds to her "Please don't kill me!" with another punch to keep her from alerting any more troops.

Before Joanna leaves, she retrieves her gun and also discovers Cassandra's personal Falcon 2, and then kneels down again to look at the non-conscious form of Cassandra De Vries, the woman she could have killed. Jo thinks that the makeup on De Vries' face makes her look superficial. Despite knowing how childish a task it is, she cannot help but smear Cassandra's lipstick and eyeshadow all over her face, and then place her open compact mirror in her hand, as a surprise for when she regains consciousness. As she leaves, she decides that while that was childish retribution, and maybe something teenage girls would do to each other, it is good enough for now.


End file.
